Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

There are many love parades, but now there are two in pop. Graeme Elston's teenage outfit of course, and 20 years later a Sydney psych-pop group as well. Well, they've been around for a few years without me knowing: their first release, the Sunshine EP came out in Australia in 2006. They sound a bit like the cover - Pet Sounds-esque without the yellow, type closer to that ofOdessey & Oracle Revisited, and the animals replaced by some obtrusive foliage (perhaps a reference to The Leaves?). In other words, a bit like this:

Like Brown Recluse, they know how to vary their approach a song, and you can hear all four tracks on myspace. I'll be enjoying "Six Months in particular while I'm waiting for their album to come out. They also have a little video for its first single over here. If you're on facebook, you can also see a live set consisting of the whole of Sgt. Pepper.

While you're at it you should also look up this:

These guys don't sound like their cover art, which should have looked like something halfway between The Golden Dawn's Power Plant and Younger Than Yesterday in that case. This is by far one of the best albums that came out last year and immediately convinced me The Higher State is the best 60s revival group in the UK since The Mystreated, indeed including two of their members. 12-string guitars are all over this, just like the debut From 'Round Here. On this one however, they allow themselves a bit more experimentation, which works amazingly well on the 4-minute "Wandering Through Fields of Green", sounding like it picks up where "Renaissance Fair" left off.